It’s never too early to get football season going and who wouldn’t get excited for a handful of games before the season officially kicks off on August 31st. Hence, we had week zero last weekend. Here are some thoughts.

The most exciting game of the weekend, Hawaii at UMass was not even televised nationally. Why would UMass go independent, then not have their entire season somewhere for people to watch. Never the less, exciting win for Hawaii, looking to make an impact on the Mountain West this season. For UMass, hopefully they can rebound in what appears to be a must win game this weekend against Coastal Carolina, playing their first game as an FBS program.

BYU, a team that has one of the toughest schedules in the country, they play against LSU this weekend in New Orleans, looked like they were sleep walking their way past Portland State, who could give Oregon State a run this weekend. Portland State is an FCS program, if your BYU, and you want to compete nationally with an independent slate, you better dominate the FCS. I also think that playing a week earlier has really effected some teams in the preparation, and that is why some looked sluggish.

We mentioned Oregon State. Looks like another long season for Gary Anderson in Corvallis. The question now is, was it Oregon State looking like the usual Beavers, or is Colorado State really going to be that good? They could give the Mountain West teams a run this season, especially with an offense that put up 58 in their opener. Watch out for the Rams this week as they prepare for a Friday night tilt against rival Colorado. A win over a quality FBS team, and CSU, with a Mountain West title, could be your group of 5 rep in a New Year’s 6 bowl game.

I was very disappointed to tune in for the South Florida game at San Jose State. No crowd in San Jose, and very little energy from South Florida. Head coach Charlie Strong inherits probably the best group of 5 roster in the country, is the front runner to win the American, and represent the Group of 5 in a New Year’s 6 bowl game. Let’s hope it was having to play in Week 0, and the long travel from Orlando to California that led to a sloppy 42-22 win. USF plays at home this Saturday against Stony Brook.

The final game from last weekend was Stanford traveling to Australia to take on Rice. The game was a joke, the Cardinal scored their opening touchdown in the game’s first 3 plays and never looked back. What bothered me the most, is why in the world do you need to open in Australia? The Pac 12 is always talking about not getting enough attention because they play so late in the east coast, this does not seem like a reasonable alternative. The game kicked off at 10pm Eastern time. Stanford in the preseason is one of the team’s being talked about that could possibly win the Pac 12, it’s too bad most of the country did not see the talent that they have back on offense. The Cardinal is off in week one. Well done with that schedule. We will talk tomorrow about the games of Thursday night, and what to look for in week one.